Louis Armstrong New Orleans Intl

A Legacy of Private Aviation

It had become clear in 1940 that New Orleans needed a new airport, so Moisant Field was built. It was named after daredevil aviator John Moisant, who had died in 1910 in an airplane crash on the land where the airport was built. The original name of the airport also gave rise to its IATA code, MSY (for Moisant Stock Yards). As with many other airports, it became a government air base during WWII and was returned to civil control after the war, allowing commercial service to begin in May 1946. Upon the initiation of commercial service, the terminal was a large, hangar-like building. Clearly, this makeshift building would be insufficient in the long run, and a new terminal complex debuted in 1959 (the core of this facility was in use until November 2019). By this point in time, the airport was known as Moisant International Airport. The terminal contained two sections (East and West), with four concourses and a total of 47 gates (what remains of the original terminal today is the vaulted arrivals lounge at the head of Concourse C and the adjacent western half of the ticketing alley). Whereas in the 1960s, there were discussions revolving around the relocation of the airport (now known as New Orleans International Airport, has had its name changed in 1961), it was instead decided in the early 70s that the airport should be expanded instead (these deliberations appeared again multiple times over the years, only to be met with the same fate). As such, the main terminal ticketing area was lengthened, and an airport access road linking the terminal area to I-10 was built, along with present-day Concourses A and B. As for airline jet service, Braniff International Airways was operating in 1969. It was joined in the 70s by Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Eastern Air Lines, National Airlines, Southern Airways, Texas International Airlines, United Airlines, and Central American carriers Aviateca and SAHSA. In 1974, National and Delta began flying wide-body jets into the airport (the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 and Lockheed L-1011 TriStar, respectively). They were joined in the 80s and early 90s by American Airlines (DC-10), Pan Am (DC-10), Eastern (L-1011 TriStar), Continental (Airbus A300), and Northeastern International Airways (Airbus A300), who also operated a small hub at MSY. Pride Air also had a hub at MSY, and they were flying to 16 destinations in the summer of 1985 (but it did not last for long). In 1979 SouthWest began to service MSY, and by 1985 they (along with the airlines previously mentioned) were joined by Florida Express Air Lines, LACSA, Muse Air, New York Air, Northwest Airlines (at the time known as Northwest Orient Airlines), Ozark Air Lines, Piedmont Airlines, Republic Airlines, TWA, USAir, Western Airlines, and commuter carriers Air New Orleans and Royale Airlines. There was an attempt by National to offer a direct transatlantic flight to Frankfurt (via Amsterdam) in 1978, although it was short-lived, and by 1980 they had been taken over by Pan Am, who chose not to continue the service. In 2001, in honor of the 100-year anniversary of jazz legend Louis Armstrong’s birth, the airport was renamed Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. Following the devastation left behind by Hurricane Katrina in late August 2005, MSY reopened for commercial flights on September 13th, 2005. Initial flights were by Delta and Northwest, with the other carriers returning thereafter, save for America West Airlines, which had merged with U.S. Airways, and international carrier TACA. The first airline to return to pre-Katrina flight frequency (early 2006) and seat capacity (September 2006) levels were Continental, which has since merged with United. To promote increased service to MSY post-Katrina, the New Orleans Aviation Board approved the following measure on November 21st, 2006: airlines would qualify for a $0.75 credit per seat toward terminal use charges for scheduled departing seats that exceeded 85% of pre-Katrina capacity levels (for 12 months); further, airlines would qualify for a waiver of landing fees following initiation of service to new airports that the airport did not serve at that time (this too was for 12 months). Another incentive program was approved on January 17th, 2008, waiving landing fees for the first two airlines to fly nonstop into a city not currently serving MSY. City leaders made efforts to convince an airline to introduce a flight between MSY and a European metropolis in 2013, and in March of 2017, British Airways began a nonstop flight to London Heathrow Airport (using a Boeing 787). Condor also began seasonal flights to Frankfurt in May of that same year. In 2014, MSY served 9,785,394 passengers, the first time since the hurricane that the passenger count of 2004 (the last full calendar year prior to the hurricane) was surpassed. Furthermore, in 2015 the new record of 10,673,301 passengers was set, surpassing the 9.9 million passengers of 2000. Construction of a new main terminal began in 2016, designed by world-renowned architect Cesar Pelli. With 35 gates, the new terminal opened in November 2019.